


Not Without

by leigh57



Category: 24
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-16
Updated: 2012-01-16
Packaged: 2017-10-29 15:19:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/321308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leigh57/pseuds/leigh57
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>More comment!fic, this of the highly depressing variety</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Without

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: And this is what happens when I make the mistake of watching part of 8x18. Canon all the way. Ouch.

_Jack, you know I have to call this in. The Air Force will force you down. This is a bad idea. Land the chopper now._

He heard her, every word sharp, urgent, and clear. He knew what she wanted him to do, what everybody wanted him to do, but it was like listening to the radio or watching TV.

Fictional instructions from a fictional universe.

Reality was the lift he felt in his body as the helicopter rose, the disjunction between the soaring of his bones and organs and the plummeting inside his mind – pulling, dragging, sucking.

Down.

He was so tired.

 _You okay?_

 _Perfect._

He looked at his hands on the chopper controls. Her blood was caked under his fingernails.

Already dry.

Set.

Just over an hour ago, he’d been standing by his kitchen counter, pouring water into two matching glasses, grinning to himself because she couldn’t let his phone ring even when he told her to. He’d planned to pound his own water, try to be patient while she drank hers, and get back into bed. His plan hadn’t gone a lot further than that, because all he’d wanted was to touch her again, put his face into her neck and breathe, feel her smile on his skin, soak in the softness of her voice as she whispered so close to his ear it made him shiver.

 _Jack._

He’d never hated the sound of his own name the way he hated it now, echoes and reverberations he couldn’t shut out or escape.

 _Do you understand, Jack?_

He understood.

He understood perfectly. His mistake had been in thinking anything could change, that he could get out, get away, get _free_.

Rest.

He saw her, bare feet peeking out from under the ivory sheet, smiling up at him in the morning sunshine. He felt her hand on his scars, the first time anyone had touched them with the intent to heal.

Didn’t matter.

Driving the chopper higher, he stared into the same sun that had heated her back as she kissed him, and he knew he was going to lose.

This didn’t end any other way.

Still, before the loss came the fight.

And they were going to lose first.


End file.
